Cultural Heritage Master Plan

I want to draw attention to hidden heritage in the neglected north woods of PEC. Our family's 275 acres is mostly forested. We're off #35 at the eastern end of the largest forest left in the county, Great Escarpment Forest, an elevated, ten-kilometre spine of east-west running limestone covering 2500+ acres. Listed as candidate for provincial Area of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSI) status. Our property is shot through with long sections of century-old stone walls, some still in remarkably good condition, with soldier courses, and even a three-sided stone pen feature. The thin rocky soil, fit only for pasture, couldn't easily hold a fence post. Working with horses pulling stone boats, building stone fences was extreme labor for early settlers, but such was their need. I expect there may be quite a network of stone walls/fences where areas of this forest used to be open or partially open pasture. It is worth acknowledging the challenges and accomplishments of early settler life. Maybe we'd complain less about our burdens today!

I wasn't able to attend the recent public event to present the final draft f the plan however I've taken the time to read much of it. In my opinion is provides a comprehensive document. I do think that the comment made by Victoria Taylor regarding ensuring that sufficient setbacks from the Millennium Trail are maintained is CRITICAL to the integrity of the Trail. Somehow there must be insurances that this document is actually used and is implemented vs sitting on a shelf collecting dust. Thanks for listening! Penny Morris, Picton

I was pleased to see the PEC Millennium Trail included on the CHL list at last Mondays public open house and was wondering how the trail landscape is actually defined; especially as the integrity of the Millennium Trail is now under threat. In Picton, three Draft Plans of Subdivisions—Loyalist Heights, Cold Creek, and Fawcettville—are proposed along the trail. These subdivision plans show property lines abutting the trail’s edge with insufficient setbacks to preserve the dense hedgerow of trees and shrubs that provide essential habitat and visual buffering to future adjacent developments in PEC’s designated settlement areas. As a linear landscape with tree canopy, adjacent swales and wildlife habitats Millennium Trail offers an experience because of its green edges.

The CHL master plan could be an important planning tool to expand our perspective on this cultural heritage landscape and secure its future as a key piece of green infrastructure, one that encompasses both length and width.
Can the CHL master plan work help us to reframe the Millennium Trail not as a 48km path, but as a 200-acre linear park with 6m set backs on either side to allow the needed soil volume for tree and shrub growth.
As we consider development on lands zoned for growth, can the CHL master plan work help to prioritize the protection of the Millennium Trail edges as well as the path itself.

This is supposed to be a Plan, not an Inventory. A plan says what needs to be done: an inventory lists all items. This contract with WSP is for a certain amount of money: it is not open-ended. Some people on Monday seemed to think that the project should include making a list all the features of historical interest in the County. In practice, that's not realistic. But how, you may ask, can a Plan be created unless we know what exists to build the plan around? Difficult! But as was clear on Monday, it is not possible to make a complete inventory within the finite period of time remaining before the Final Report must be delivered. So, what I suggest is that as well as classifying sites by Type (eg. fisheries), they be classified by Importance. First Importance: a small number of sites (maybe 10?) for which individual plans will be written. Second Importance: these sites should be listed individually in the report and shown on the maps, but only a general plan, for all second-importance sites, will be included in the final report. Third Importance: all others, including all those which have not yet been identified by WSP. There should be a general plan for these, and some county organization should take on the long-term job of listing and mapping them.

Was the Oct 6 meeting recorded so that folks can watch it to get up to date on the conversation? I think that the County is FULL of sites/locations/grounds that should be included in a Cultural Heritage Master Plan. One area that may be overlooked but has an important cultural history is Delhi Park. Thank you!